That he was a man of some eminence is shown by his having been engaged by Edward IV.

on a mission to the Duke of Burgundy, with power to negotiate a treaty of commerce; that he was a person of skill and courtesy is evinced by his being retained in the service of Margaret, Duchess of York, when she married Charles, Duke of Burgundy.

While in her train, he studied printing on the Continent, and is said to have printed some books there.

At length, when he was more than sixty years old, he returned to England; and, in 1474, he printed what is supposed to be the first book printed in England, "The Game and Playe of the Chesse." Thus it was a century after Chaucer wrote the Canterbury Tales that printing was introduced into England.

Caxton died in 1491, but his workmen continued to print, and among them Wynken de Worde stands conspicuous.